Louisiana schools are better, but the work is far from done: An editorial

Louisiana's educational reforms, from the accountability system put in place over the past 15 years to the transformation of New Orleans' public schools after Hurricane Katrina, have greatly expanded options for many families and improved the academic performance of thousands of children. Uising standardized test scores reflect that progress, with the most dramatic gains in recent years coming among students in the New Orleans Recovery School District.

Photo by Ted Jackson / The Times-Picayune5-year-old Zykirah Culler raises her hand "present" as her little sister Lynette Culler sits in her lap on the first day of school August 10, 2011 at Abramson Charter School in New Orleans.

But Louisiana's results in a national exam widely considered to be the best state-to-state gauge show how far we have to go -- and why officials must remain focused on improving the quality of schools in our region and the rest of the state.

Louisiana's fourth- and eighth-graders slightly improved their average scores in reading and math on the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress. In two of the four categories our state even gained a little on the national averages.

The bad news, however, is that these gains were not big enough to register as statistically significant compared to our state's results two years ago, the last time the NAEP was administered. Overall, Louisiana scores still rank near the bottom in the nation.

Just as worrisome, Louisiana's results were mixed in closing achievement gaps among student populations based on race and income.

The state narrowed the gap in math scores between white and black students, compared to results in 1992. But the gap in math results remained essentially the same between low-income students and those of middle-class families. In reading, the achievement gap was "not significantly different" than it was in 1998 in both race and income.

Almost 12,000 Louisiana students took the test this year.

Gov. Bobby Jindal said the results "show that we're moving in the right direction. But we need to quickly accelerate our progress."

The governor is right.

He has said that he plans to focus on education reform during his second term. Gov. Jindal needs to begin laying out his education agenda soon, so Louisianians can consider the specifics of his plan. But he named important areas of concern, including giving parents more choices in where their children can attend school, offering more information about schools to help parents make decisions and expanding teacher evaluations to reward educators who improve student achievement. The governor is right to highlight these areas.

Meanwhile, educational reforms in metro New Orleans are expanding further, and that's important as well.

In recent months, RSD Superintendent John White presided over an important revision of the master plan to rebuild schools citywide. The changes ensure that all city students would be in new or renovated schools by 2016. Mr. White also recently announced that the state plans to convert the remaining RSD-run high schools and three more elementary schools into charters next year. That would mean that almost all public students in the city attend schools run by autonomous operators.

Reforms continue to expand in Jefferson Parish as well. The new School Board and acting Superintendent James Meza have given principals more authority over teacher hiring decisions, launched turnaround efforts for several mediocre schools and applied performance evaluations to teacher layoffs.

Reversing years of institutional opposition to expanding charter schools, the system is now considering applications from 10 nonprofit groups seeking to run as many as 13 schools for the 2012-13 year. Mr. Meza said the parish will carefully evaluate the proposals and is unlikely to approve all of them. That's as it should be.

But most of the parish's schools received D or F letter grades in the state's latest evaluations. Jefferson has only two charters now, both of which run alternative schools for children with discipline problems or who are likely dropouts, and that's clearly not enough charters. Parish children deserve better options, and it's good to see that parish officials understand that well-run charter schools can be a vital part of Jefferson's reforms.

Critics of reform in our region and the rest of the state point to the low scores of many schools, especially RSD-run schools, to suggest that reforms have failed -- despite rapid performance gains in recent years. Those critics are likely to see Louisiana's lack of progress in the NAEP state ranking as additional evidence that reforms have fallen short.

But the improving performance in the state's accountability system by students in New Orleans, where reforms have been applied more broadly, clearly show that the changes the RSD and BESE have pushed for are moving us in the right direction.

The latest NAEP scores show why reforms need to continue and expand to other mediocre systems in the state.